Xtrapva.dll Trojan in the Cabal Online folders

I was doing my usual virus scan when the Symantec Antivirus detected a Xtrapva.dll trojan horse. After a simple search on Google, I found out that the trojan horse has been around since June 2007. The trojan has infected a number of files, including one used by Xtrap. Xtrap is used by many online games (e.g. Cabal Online & knights Online) to scan and prevent third party 'unauthorised' software from running, e.g. bots.

Thus it is ironic that such 'prevention' software got infected with a trojan horse. For my case it's Cabal Online's gaming update such that Xtrap got installed.

There are plenty of solutions and discussions about it. Doing a simple virus scan should be able to cure this trojan horse infection. :) Guess it is time for those online gamers out there to do more scheduled virus scan!

Cabal Online / Granado Espada Soundtracks

With higher expectations and competitions among the different online games, many developers have tried enhancing the online gaming experience by improving the background music. Two such games that come to mind are Cabal Online and Granado Espada. The soundtracks from Cabal Online have a faster pace, which suits gaming fine. The tracks from Granado Espada are even better, with pace and theme that could be used for own leisure listening.

Here's the soundtracks from Cabal Online and Granado Espada. Both soundtracks are from Imeem.com, which may take a while to load. For Granado Espada the soundtracks could be purchased in games and some music shops (4CDs). Music4Games had an interview with Granado Espada people about the soundtracks used in the game.

Cabal Online Soundtracks:


Granado Espada Soundtracks:

Cabal Online Screenshots

There are a number of games where I didn't play enough to do a proper review. Nonetheless there were a couple of screenshots that might be entertaining for some visitors and so over the next few blog posts I'll just put the pictures up.

The first game is Cabal Online and I played in the South East Asia servers. The game website has a host of useful information including videos as demos (which partly explains why there is not much need to write more about the gameplay). For new players, take a look at the forums where the different classes are pretty well explained.

The first picture was taken outside of the towns where players fight the monsters. I was using a long distance attack.

This screenshot was taken after the completion of a dungeon quest. The dungeon quests occured in 'instances' and often have timings as deadlines for players.

After some of the quests, and at particular levels (e.g. aura mode at level 20), the players will be able to gain special abilities.

The graphics is great, and here's a screenshot of player talking to a NPC, Kallua.

Other than the towns, there are also special rooms where the players enter to meet other NPCs. The rooms are quite well decorated.

Here's a screenshot of the town. In towns, players could open shops for trading with each other. Sometimes one could even look at other players doing funny dances, e.g. here's a blog spot about a funny Cabal group dance to the tune of Wonder Girls' "Tell Me".

See also:
- Cabal Online / Granado Espada Soundtracks

Cabal Online Launch @ Suntec Atrium

Cabal Online was launched by AsiaSoft on 3rd March 2008. Today at the Suntec Atrium, there is a Cabal Online Carnival (o.k. it's not a launch but still within the same month)! Only realised at the Carnival that 'Cabal' is pronounced as 'Kar Bal' and not 'Cable'. Lolz.

There was a huge crowd, especially in the morning around 11am. Queue for the freebies was especially long, snaking out of the Atrium area. Most of the crowd came in black and/ or green, since wearing the 'Cabal' colours entitle you to a lucky draw coupon.

There were quite a number of games at the Carnival. One of them was the 'combo' competition. For the 20 hits combo, only a few made it to the scoreboard. Another game was the 'showhand' where each person tried to match his card to the one display on the big screen.

I stayed around for a while, watching the demos of the game. The demos are mostly (if not all) level 101 avatars, so the skills demostrated are of course impressive lah. Those without an AsiaSoft account could also sign up for one at the 'aClub' shop on level 3. Organisers are quite thoughtful and had marked out the direction on the ground with these signs:

I went to take a look, and there was also a long line of people waiting to 'verify' their accounts. Actually, if not for these signs, I would never be able to find this shop hidden in that obscure corner of Suntec.

Overall it was a nice experience going to the carnival. There is quite a large group of online gamers around, especially the students group. Seen a few more matured adults as well. Compared to the two other 'carnivals' / 'launches' (MapleStory & WoW Burning Crusade) that I've been to, the Cabal Online carnival was not as crowded. I guess it's the nature of the games, those games with less grinding needed would attract more gamers, especially casual garmers who may be more willing to participate in such offline activities. Just my 2 cents worth of thought.

Oh yah, I got the goodies when the queue shortened sufficiently. Since I was not among the first, I didn't get the bags with a t-shirt inside. Got the free CDs, lanyard, poster & a few other kit knacks. Here's the pic of what I got. Guess it pays to go earlier to queue, at least you will get the T-shirt!